Asus P750

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Though not as prolific as brands like HTC, Asus does have a few PDA-phones in its portfolio. The company's main differentiator since its earlier MyPal-branded devices is the inclusion of GPS in most of its devices. This carries on in the current range and extends to the upcoming lineup as well. Asus' current flagship model is the P750, a Windows Mobile 6 handheld with HSDPA as one of its connectivity features. It retails for S$1,188 and is available in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.

Design

Ranging from components catered to enthusiasts to notebooks for a wide spectrum of consumers, Asus has a pretty good track record when it comes to quality. We found that to be true also in the P750 which has a solid build. With dimensions of 113 x 58 x 17.4mm and a weight of 130g, this PDA-phone is pretty compact for its class of products. It isn't as sleek as some other Windows Mobile handhelds from brands like HTC and LG. But given that it has a numeric keypad, we'd say Asus has done a pretty good job with the form factor even though the design isn't that exciting.

The microSD card slot is found on the right.

The front of the device is mostly taken up by a 2.6-inch QVGA display. Below that, you get a joystick navigator and a numeric keypad for number and text input. There are quite a number of shortcut keys found around the keypad including an OK key for getting out of menus quickly. Though it occupies a very small surface area, we found the keys on the keypad good to type with. One small gripe we had is that the "2" button, for some strange reason, requires more force to depress. So if you are using minimum force for the rest of the buttons, hitting "2" will give you a non-response and will require a re-press.

The bezel around the screen has a brushed metal finish while a chromed strip runs around the edge. The rest of the P750 including the back come in a velvety material--one that is getting popular among many handhelds because it feels good in the hands. The sides of the P750 are quite crowded. On the left are a jog dial and voice recorder shortcut key while on the right are a port for an external GPS antenna, the power switch, a reset hold, camera shutter and a microSD card slot.

The power switch is one aspect of the design that we really liked. It works very much like those Hold switches found on music players--moving it up from the default center position turns the device on or off, while moving it down locks it. This allows you to keylock the P750 no matter which application you happen to be in, unlike many other WM handhelds which can be keylocked only from the Home screen.

On the base of this PDA-phone are two ports, one mini-USB and one 2.5mm audio connector. A stylus slot is also found there close to the right edge.

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